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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28377912">those who are merciful to the cruel</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jelloed/pseuds/jelloed'>jelloed</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>'hey why is everyone okay with making a 12 year old an executioner?', Aang (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Comfort, Light Angst, Mentors, The inherent comfort of someone being on your side, Wan is trying his best to provide, energy bending, if you ever thought, this is the fic for you</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:28:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,274</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28377912</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jelloed/pseuds/jelloed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Aang meets Avatar Wan, who offers Aang his wisdom in defeating Fire Lord Ozai, as well as giving him a gift.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang &amp; Wan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>those who are merciful to the cruel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The title is taken from the quote 'those who are merciful to the cruel will one day be cruel to the merciful.' To be, transparent, I don't think that it applies in this situation, I just thought that it had a good ring to it. While I think that Aang was being 'merciful,' in way, to ozai, I don't believe that he was being merciful in the way that his quote suggests. Aang decision to not kill ozai is something that I see a lot of people disagree with and while I personally think he deserves death for his crimes I also don't think we should make a 12 year old the executioner and while I'm certain is felt frustrating for those around Aang that he was so reluctant to make that choice, I do think that Aang's hesitation and unwillingness was completely justified and it really sucked that none of the other characters seemed to recognize that sorry for rambling about that i'm very passionate about it</p>
<p>someone please help me with the summary i'm begging</p>
<p>Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Even the Air Bender avatar before him, someone who was raised like him, who valued the same things he did, who should have understood him more than any of the others he’d spoken to, even she thought he should kill him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang closed his eyes, frustrated. It wasn’t that he thought they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Ozai was a terrible man, he had done terrible, despicable things. Bringing his life to an end was a way to stop it. To stop the Fire Nation from continuing in their plans, to bring this war to an end. It could be justice. It was justice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And yet…</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The thought made him sick. The idea alone caused his stomach to twist into knots and pull </span>
  <em>
    <span>tight</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It was justice, but it wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> justice. It was a way to end the war, but it couldn’t be the only way. There had to be another. There had to be something else he could do, had to be someone else he could talk to. Someone who would understand…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello, Aang.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He opened his eyes and looked up. A young man, another avatar, sat across from him. Wild black hair falling to his shoulders, red clothes almost like the Fire Nation’s, but not quite. He smiled, kind and gentle. He nudged Aang with his foot. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s nice to get to meet you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello,” Aang ventured, sitting up once more and bowing best he could, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s okay, I didn’t think you would. I’m Avatar Wan, I was the first avatar.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He felt his jaw drop as he leaned forward, “The </span>
  <em>
    <span>first</span>
  </em>
  <span> avatar? That’s amazing! Wow, it’s an honor to meet you Avatar Wan! I have so many questions…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wan raised a hand, cutting him off before Aang could get any further, “I know. And I would love to answer all of them, and tell you everything, later. When there is time. It’s my understanding that’s not the case right now. Instead, you have something else to ask. Something more important.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re right, I’m sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t be. You can ask me all the questions you want, another day. Today there is only one question that I think you need answered.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang nodded, even as his shoulders slumped, looking to the ground. “There is someone,” he began, “who has thrown the world out of balance. Who will continue to. He wants to destroy an entire country, and I have to stop him. Everyone, even our other lives, all of them want me to kill him. To </span>
  <em>
    <span>murder</span>
  </em>
  <span> him. But I don’t… I don’t know if I can. And I don’t know how to end the war if I don’t.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wan hummed, bringing a hand to his chin, “I see, that’s quite a situation.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know what to do,” Aang admitted, voice small. His eyes began to water so he shut them before any tears could fall, as his heart thudded painfully in his chest, “I don’t want to kill him. I don’t know if I’ll be able to kill him. But everyone is telling me that I have to. No one is trying to help. And </span>
  <em>
    <span>they’re</span>
  </em>
  <span> not the ones who have to do and live with themselves afterward, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I am</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s true,” Wan said, reaching forward instead to put his hands on Aangs knees, “what everyone else wants you to do doesn’t have to be what you do, Aang. You’re living in a time unlike any other avatar has seen. Unlike anything that we’ve experienced before. And even though we are with you, and you are us and we are you, you are also </span>
  <em>
    <span>yourself</span>
  </em>
  <span> and that matters. What you want to do, in this time that you are living and experiencing, matters. What you think is right matters.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It does?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wan squeezed his knees, and Aang lifted his head to meet his gaze again. He looked sad, but confident, proud. “You have our wisdom, but you also have your own. In my wisdom, I would say that maybe there is something to not ending an era of violence and fear with more violence. That there is something to ending this era, where we have seen death unlike any this world has before, not with more death, not with murder, but with peace.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t think it makes me weak? I think Avatar Kyoshi thinks that I’m a coward.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think it takes a lot of courage to be kind in the face of cruelty. I think that you have brought the world light and hope, and I think that you are very strong for wanting to do things your way, in a way that you can be proud of. A way the world can be proud of,” Wan laughed, “And anyway, Avatar Kyoshi could never do what you’re going to do. Very few of us would be strong enough to not cave into just killing Ozai. That? That would be easy. What you’re doing is much harder.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Relief washed over Aang, soothing the anxiety that hadn’t abated since he had learned that he would have to face Ozai on the day of Sozin’s Comet. A peace that someone was with him, someone was on his side, someone didn’t think he was just being childish and petty, that he didn’t understand what was at stake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I still don’t know what to do, though,” Aang said, “Ozai won’t go quietly, and unless I defeat him completely the Fire Nation will rally around him and go through with the plan regardless.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s true,” Wan smirked, looking mischievous, “but there are other ways, and I can think of something to help. There is one more thing you have to learn, Avatar Aang, and I will teach it to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With that, he pushed up onto his knees, moving his hands to Aang’s shoulders. “This island is not actually an island, but a lion turtle. I visited the lion turtles when I was alive to receive the gifts of the elements, and then learned from the original masters how to bend them. I visited five lion turtles, when I was alive. Four of them gave me the gifts of the elements, but one, the one we are on now, gave me the knowledge of how they gave the gifts to begin with.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The lion turtles would bend the energy within others to give them the elements. You can do the same. But it’s dangerous, to bend someone else’s energy, your spirit must be unbendable. If not, then you will be overtaken, able to be corrupted and destroyed.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang stared up at Wan, eyes wide, but he didn’t move back, “I’m offering this to you, this ability, which has been passed to very few avatars before you, because you have shown that you are unbendable. That you are looking to push back darkness with light. This is not the easy solution-- the easy solution would be to kill him-- but you are not looking for the easy solution. You are looking for the right one for both you and the world.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What if I can’t do it?” Aang asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You can,” Wan answered, as though the matter is already taken care of, an unwavering faith that brushes away his worries, “I know you will.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wan reached between them with a smile, resting a hand on Aang’s chest, and touching the first two fingers on the other to the center of his forehead, “Now, this is for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang closed his eyes as light and warmth pulsed through him, originating from the points that Avatar Wan touched. He basked in its glow, in its peace, and he knows what he will do.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I recently watched MDZS and every time I see Wan's name all I can think is Lan Wanji, so now I have to make the rest of you suffer with me, sorry, not really.<br/>ANyway this has been sitting in my docs for a while, and I'm not going to edit it anymore so I may as well post it. I don't reread anything before posting it, once it's done I wait until I get the courage to thrust it into the world and become everyone else's problem.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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